1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for transfer and processing of images such as motion pictures and still images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image transfer generally involves the transfer of image data compressed based on an image compression standard such as JPEG or MPEG (see, for example, JP2003-299005A).
However, where narrow-band communication paths such as those in a cellular telephone network are used, the compressed image data sometimes cannot be transmitted at a sufficiently high transfer rate.
As for motion pictures, there is another problem that it is not always easy to search and replay motion pictures. A technology is known that divides an original motion picture into multiple motion picture clips in order to make it easier to search and replay motion pictures (see, for example, JP2005-27159A).
However, in the prior art technology, the task of dividing the motion picture is carried out manually for the most part, and is very labor-intensive and burdensome.